Can’t decide between wood floors or tile? Ceramic or vinyl? Natural stone or engineered wood? If you want to get ultra-creative with your floor design, you don’t have to choose one over the other—you can have both! “Mixed Media” (mixed materials) is more and more popular in the flooring industry. Designs featuring wood floors with ceramic or stone tile can be woven together to create a unique design.
Your imagination is the only limit when combining hardwood with stone or ceramic tile, although the most popular look is what is called a “weave.” That’s when you create a basket weave-style pattern by placing large square tiles one wood plank’s width apart from each other, and enclose them in hardwood or hardwood-inspired flooring, such as luxury vinyl plank or engineered wood.
Choosing Materials
To choose and install the right materials, it’s important to know how each one functions in order to ensure a successful installation that doesn’t develop problems down the road. For example, wood and water do not mix well, yet the components for an adjacent decorative surface such as stone and tile require using water during the installation procedure, in the grout, for example.
Attention to detail is another important key. Tile must be set first, with hardwood installed after the quickset is dry. This can complicate the installation process because the grid pattern must be perfectly square when it’s time to install the hardwood, or the entire design is compromised.
Tile and stone have different vertical heights compared to hardwood. This makes planning crucial. Your installer must measure carefully to make sure the finished floor is as perfectly level as it would be if they used the same material throughout.
Other popular forms of mixed media include stone medallions and borders. Many of these are preassembled and don’t rely on the difficulty of fitting of wood floors into the design, everything is already matched and prepared. Typically, they are glued into place during or after the hardwood installation, once the design area is cut out. Stone medallions and borders still require planning. Any time you venture outside of single-material flooring designs, planning becomes a critical step in the installtion.
Image courtesy of pexels sasha pshenkov
Mix Marble, Granite, or Other Natural Stone With Hardwood
Stone combined with wood flooring has been used as a flooring design for millennia. Because stone has different properties than wood, installation applications differ because space for expansion is required.
Depending on the source, some medallions may be made specifically for inset into ceramic tile or stone, where the overall thickness will be 3/8 of an inch. Depending on the size, some may be fully intact or arranged in sections for safer shipping. While this thickness is ideal for standard engineered floors that may be glued to concrete, we’re left with another 3/8-inch if you want to install over a wood subfloor system with ¾-inch hardwood.
In the case of using solid floors with thinner medallions, a concrete backer board is recommended. Some manufacturers offer thickness options for their designs if installing into floors from 3/8- up to 3/4-inch. Essentially, a plywood backer board is attached to the design that can be pre grouted or not, leaving the final grouting and color selection up to the buyer on the jobsite.
However, using these materials along with wood floors requires an expansion area. Without room for expansion, cracks, warps, and buckling may occur. The force of moisture within wood and stone has been known for centuries. In fact, the swelling of wood as it absorbs moisture was a trick used to split large sections of stone in ancient times.
Friend or Faux?
Another option with a much simpler installation is to use tile throughout, but to mix and match traditional tile with wood like tile aka wood look tile.
You’ve most likely stepped on wood like tile floor before, but didn’t realize it. Faux wood tile floors give you the look of wood, and the durability and water resistance of tile.
It’s exactly what you would imagine: porcelain or ceramic tile that is finished to look just like wood grain. This flooring is versatile, and comes in a variety of patterns and styles, including multiple realistic wood grains. Having faux wood tiles mean that you get the beauty of hardwood floors without the maintenance, and worries about moisture that comes with hardwood.
Something you can do very easily with wood look tiles is to totally customize the look. When you have a variety of tiles, colors, grains, and sizes at your disposal, you can truly create the floor of your dreams. Using these tiles, you can make all sorts of patterns, like the above-mentioned weaves.
When replacing a floor, it has to be a wise investment. Even though hardwood floors are beautiful, they damage easily in high traffic areas and moisture prone areas such as the kitchen, which turns into more costs. Actual wooden floors scratch, dent, warp, crack, and chip under stress and moisture. Especially in homes with children and pets.
In addition, a traditional hardwood floor needs to be refinished and resealed every couple of years. The beauty of faux wood like tile is it removes those concerns, and provides durability whether your pet runs across your floor or a child spills juice. No matter, your tiles will still look great. If part of your floor is damaged, it’s much easier to pull up a tile and replace it than it is to repair hardwood.
Faux wood-look tiles are also a great option in the bathroom. No one should ever install hardwood in a bathroom, because the moisture will warp and damage the floor. But with faux wood tile, that’s not an issue. If you choose a simple, white bathroom, the look of wood can provide warmth to the design.
When you choose to get faux wood tile flooring, you are making a great decision for your home, and for the environment. Wood looking tiles help reduce the number of hardwood trees used in flooring. With faux wood-like tile floors, you get all the benefits of hardwood without the negatives attached to it.
Lastly, faux wood tiles are an affordable option. These tiles are typically more cost effective than traditional hardwood flooring. Since they are easier on your wallet, this option is worth considering.
Ready to take your floor designs to the next level? Check out our pages on the different types of tile and wood flooring options available, then call or email FM Pro Remodeling today for a free consultation.
